Originally hailing from Seattle, Washington, the skilled guard impressed in her debut campaign with the club last year.

"Mikayla was up there as pretty much one of our top three targets as soon as 2023 finished to bring back," Bandits' women's coach Sam McDonald said.

"In the 13 games she played she was phenomenal, coming in part way through the season and working herself into NBL1 East All Star Five form.

"We're really happy to have her back to anchor the front court for us in 2024."

Having grown up watching Lauren Jackson play for Seattle Storm in the WNBA, Pivec now finds herself calling the basketball legend her teammate.

"I know Mikayla was a bit devastated when Lauren couldn't play last year, but now we've got the opportunity to pair those two up and things should be pretty exciting," McDonald said.

"It's the first time in her (Pivec) career that she's gone back to the same club.

"She's a great basketballer, but also a really great person off the court as well.

"When you look at our squad, we've got some older heads and some really young players, and having a wise head like that around to mentor the young ones is really handy."

The 26-year-old played college basketball for Oregon State University and went on to be drafted by Atlanta Dream in the 2020 WNBA draft before going on to play in Spain.

Pivec is set to return to the Border just in time for the first round of the NBL1 East season, with the Bandits set to travel to take on Sydney Comets on April 6 before meeting Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Spiders on April 7.

The club also announced the arrival of men's US import Kevion Blaylock this week.